..and I still didn't have to reactivate Vista

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malingjc

[H]ard|Gawd
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Jul 6, 2003
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I'd like to hear about what you guys have done to your PC and what you had done to your computer to be forced to reactivate Vista. Make sure to note your version, Full, Upgrade, OEM.

My original config was:

P4 1.8 GHz, 1GB ram, 200gb hard drive, DVDRW, CDRW, Radeon 9600xt, 3com 3c905 net, Sound Blaster Live 512 - activated with this config.

My first flaw was that my 3c905 would not work so I switched to a Linksys LNE100TX. No reactivation.

My second flaw was that my Sound Blaster Live 512 would always have a light distortion on music no matter what levels I put volumes at, no matter what speakers or headphones. Replaced with an Audigy LS. Still no reactivation needed.

I then decided that since my lowest rating was my processor (3.0) I would upgrade it. I replaced it with a 2.5/400/512k (it was a 1.8/400/256k). Replaced. Faster. Still no reactivation needed. Oh and my processor rating only went up to a 3.6, crud.

I've heard some horror stories about the OEM version but I'm curious what does it take to break it.
 
A BIOS flash will reset CMOS settings to defaults, and could well make the system configuration considerably different to what it was when Windows was installed. The motherboard remember, rather than being a single device, is actually a dozen or more separate devices ;)
 
I have Vista Ultimate Retail Upgrade, upgraded to a 8800 GTS 640 and added a Sil3132 PCIe 1x SATA controller and moved my HDs to it because the 8800 blocked two of my SATA ports. Vista made me reactivate, it said the key was already in use.
 
Schwartz said:
I have Vista Ultimate Retail Upgrade, upgraded to a 8800 GTS 640 and added a Sil3132 PCIe 1x SATA controller and moved my HDs to it because the 8800 blocked two of my SATA ports. Vista made me reactivate, it said the key was already in use.
Click to expand...

Have to call them up and reactivate. Takes 6 min. Could prolly call now if you wanna talk to an Indian guy ;)
 
Catweazle said:
A BIOS flash will reset CMOS settings to defaults, and could well make the system configuration considerably different to what it was when Windows was installed. The motherboard remember, rather than being a single device, is actually a dozen or more separate devices ;)
Click to expand...

The serial numbers still stay the same on all those devices so doing a bios flash should not matter. Devices that can trigger activation all have a serial number, MAC address in the case of the NIC.

I changed my NIC card and didn't have to reactivate. I've seen a couple of people post in this forum that had to reactivate just because they added more ram. One guy called Microsoft Customer Support after adding more ram because it said his activation number was already in use when he tried to activate again instead of calling the activation center. The Microsoft customer support people were too stupid to clue into the fact he needed to call the activation number instead and he wasted 2 hours on the phone with them.
 
To those replacing mobo's...

Is it really easier than with XP? No blue screen of death or re-installation of drivers?

Thanks!
 
I wouldn't know. I formatted and installed my shit again. Would rather not take a chance with driver conflicts and such.
 
I installed the nVidia chipset drivers yesterday.
Today it asked me to activate. When I looked in device manager I noticed my hard drive and DVD-RW in that particular computer changed so that their names now include SCSI (they are both SATA, so understandable.) So apparently, 2x SMBUS drivers, 2 SATA controller drivers, and two "new" storage devices are enough to warrant reactivation.

Wow. 'nuff said.
 
That's curious. I installed the newer Nvidia chipset drivers a few days back, with no resultant problems at all.
 
This was nForce4, as I notice you have a Core2 rig, but someone with an nForce4 rig that just installed them with the automatic installer check this for me.

Originally, when I went to device manager under IDE/ATAPI controllers it showed three Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controllers. I had to manually update two of them to the NVIDIA nForce Serial ATA Controller driver. I'm quite sure this is what did it, so this suggests either that nVidia's installer is buggy or it's merely an issue with this board in particular.

I was unable to recreate this scenario on Helios in my sig, it occured on Eos. Both using nForce4 S939 motherboards - just different models.
 
bios flash on my 965-ds3 gigabyte mobo caused a reactivation.

Switching my harddrives to AHCI after inistalling the OS in regular mode caused reactivation. followed the MS kb article on how to do this and they made no mention of it requiring reactivation so i was a little annoyed.

and lastly, but mildly suspected, when i ghosted my system to a new harddrive from a seagate that was developing bad sectors i had to reactivate as well.
 
kinda on topic

i put vista home premium oem x64 on my original pc [specs not worthy to post]

then i got silly and bought all new parts [see sig]

of course i had to call to get authenticated

i bet i was on the phone for 4 minutes max

gal was from india, quick as a flash - didnt ask any personal questions...

didnt ask what color boxers i had on... nothing

just asked me to read the number and confirmed that i wouldnt be running vista on two machines

she read the number back and whammo... just like that i was in and off the phone...

i was actually proud of ms at that moment...
 
i added a 2nd HDD, added another gig of RAM & did bios flash - all separately. And, once reformatted & reinstalled VIsta AFTER activation the first time. None of the hardware changes prompted needing to reactivate and after the reformat & reinstall, i reactivated with no "key already in use" problems.

BUT then, just a few days ago, with the same hardware, reformatted & reinstalled again, and this time it said "key in use" when i activated & I had to call MS and get them to give me a code (took like 5 min).

So, can't complain I got pretty far b4 it gave me issues.
 
jamhamm said:
kinda on topic

i put vista home premium oem x64 on my original pc [specs not worthy to post]

then i got silly and bought all new parts [see sig]

of course i had to call to get authenticated

i bet i was on the phone for 4 minutes max

gal was from india, quick as a flash - didnt ask any personal questions...

didnt ask what color boxers i had on... nothing

just asked me to read the number and confirmed that i wouldnt be running vista on two machines

she read the number back and whammo... just like that i was in and off the phone...

i was actually proud of ms at that moment...
Click to expand...

Ha sounds like the same experience that my dad had... I told him he was going to get an ear full but he lucked out...

and I did as well with the same kit :D
 
thats the same experience i've gotten when reactivating office2k3 at work after formats as well. they never seem to hassle you. with office it seems you dont even always have to speak to a person, occasionally using the automated system works by itself.
 
I'm a Consumer level PC tech, and as a result i have had the (Dis)pleasure of reactivating many windows keys over the years up to and including OEM installs of Vista Home Premium and Ultimate.
It seems that the status quo with XP is the same with Vista. Basically they will ask you if this is the only PC that the license is active on you reply " As far as i know it is the only one" and they give you your activation number this has worked for keys in both XP and Vista where the copy was on more than one machine. I would venture a guess that as long as someone isn't running 20 machines on the same key as the one or two machines you have on it, You'll have no trouble activating the key. if its an OEM copy they might ask you was this copy of windows purchased seperately or did it come installed on the computer? you just reply "It came with the computer."
They will also occasionally ask you what the reason you are activating the key is, generally you tell them that you are doing an upgrade and they don't even ask you what parts you have swapped.
 
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